Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-01T01:54:37.547Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Chemical and Morphological Evidence for the Conversion of Smectite to Illite

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Atsuyuki Inoue ,
Norihiko Kohyama ,
Ryuji Kitagawa  and
Takashi Watanabe
Atsuyuki Inoue
Affiliation:
Geological Institute, College of Arts & Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba 260, Japan
Norihiko Kohyama
Affiliation:
National Institute of Industrial Health, The Ministry of Labor, Nagao, Tama-ku, Kawasaki 213, Japan
Ryuji Kitagawa
Affiliation:
Faculty of Science, Hiroshima University, Higashisendamachi, Naka-ku, Hiroshima 730, Japan
Takashi Watanabe
Affiliation:
Joetsu University of Education, Joetsu, Nigata 943, Japan
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The continuous conversion of smectite to illite in samples from the Shinzan hydrothermal alteration area of Japan has been examined by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and transmission (TEM) and analytical transmission electron microscopy (AEM). TEM shows that randomly interstratified illite/ smectite (I/S) containing 100-50% expandable layers exhibits a flakey shape, whereas regularly and partially ordered interstratified I/S having 50-0% expandable layers exhibits a lath-like habit. An early- formed lath of regularly interstratified I/S is typically <35 Å in thickness and 300–500 Å in width; these dimensions gradually increase with decreasing percentage of expandable layers. XRD shows that the lathshaped I/S has a 1M polytype mica structure. AEM shows that the interlayer K content of flakey I/S increases monotonously with decreasing percentage of expandable layers in the range 100-50% expandable layers, whereas the interlayer K content of lath-shaped I/S increases along a different trend from that for the flakey I/S in the range 50-0% expandable layers. These observations suggest that randomly interstratified I/S is fundamentally smectite that is undergoing K-fixation and dissolution and that regularly and partially ordered interstratified I/S are immature illite which is still growing. Consequently, they suggest a mechanism for the hydrothermal smectite-to-illite conversion that is based on the K-fixation in and dissolution of smectite and the precipitation and growth of thin illite particles. Furthermore, these data suggest that the kinetics of smectite dissolution and illite growth are the most important factors controlling the smectite-to-illite conversion.

Keywords

DiagenesisExpandable layersIlliteK-fixationSmectiteX-ray powder diffraction
Type
Research Article
Information
Clays and Clay Minerals , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , April 1987 , pp. 111 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © 1987, The Clay Minerals Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boles, J. R. and Franks, S. G., 1979 Clay diagenesis in Wilcox sandstones of southwest Texas: Implications of smectite diagenesis on sandstone cementation J. Sed. Petrol. 49 55 – 70.Google Scholar
Browne, P. R. L. and Ellis, A. J., 1970 The Ohaki-Broadlands hydrothermal area, New Zealand: Mineralogy and related geochemistry Amer. J. Sci. 269 97 – 131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cliff, G. and Lorimer, G. W., 1975 The quantitative analysis of thin specimens J. Microsc. 103 203 – 207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunoyer de Segonzac, G., 1970 The transformation of clay minerals during diagenesis and low-grade metamorphism: A review Sedimentology 15 281 – 346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eslinger, E. V. and Savin, S. M., 1973 Mineralogy and oxygen isotope geochemistry of the hydrothermal altered rocks of the Ohaki-Broadlands, New Zealand geothermal area Amer. J. Sci. 273 240 – 267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foscolos, A. F. and Kodama, H., 1974 Diagenesis of clay minerals from lower Cretaceous shales of northeastern British Columbia Clays & Clay Minerals 22 319 – 336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garrels, R. M., 1984 Montmorillonite/illite stability diagrams Clays & Clay Minerals 32 161 – 166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Güven, N., 1974 Lath-shaped units in fine-grained micas and smectites Clays & Clay Minerals 22 385 – 390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Güven, N., Hower, W. F. and Davies, D. K., 1980 Nature of authigenic illites in sandstone reservoirs J. Sed. Petrol. 50 761 – 766.Google Scholar
Hoffman, J. and Hower, J., 1979 Clay mineral assemblages as low grade metamorphic geothermometers: Application to the thrust faulted Disturbed Belt of Montana, U.S.A. Soc. Econ. Paleontol. Mineral. Spec. Publ. 26 55 – 79.Google Scholar
Horton, D. G., 1985 Mixed-layer illite/smectite as a paleotemperature indicator in the Amethyst vein system, Creede district, Colorado, USA Contrib. Miner. Petrol. 91 171 – 179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hower, J. and Longstaffe, F. J., 1981 Shale diagenesis Clays and the Resource Geologist Canada Mineral. Assoc. 60 – 80.Google Scholar
Hower, J., Eslinger, E., Hower, M. and Perry, E., 1976 The mechanism of burial diagenetic reactions in argillaceous sediments, 1. Mineralogical and chemical evidence Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull. 87 725 – 737.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inoue, A., Minato, H. and Utada, M., 1978 Mineralogical properties and occurrence of illite/montmorillonite mixed layer minerals formed from Miocene volcanic glass in Waga-Omono district Clay Sci. 5 123 – 136.Google Scholar
Inoue, A. and Utada, M., 1983 Further investigations of a conversion series of dioctahedral mica/smectites in the Shinzan hydrothermal alteration area, northeast Japan Clays & Clay Minerals 31 401 – 412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jagodzinski, H., 1949 Eindimensionale Fehlordnung in Kristallen und ihr Einfluss auf die Röntgeninterferenzen. I. Berechnung des Fehlordnungsgrades aus der Röntgeninten- sitaten Acta Crystallogr. 2 201 – 207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jennings, S. and Thompson, G. R., 1986 Diagenesis in Plio-Pleistocene sediments in the Colorado River delta, southern California J. Sed. Petrol. 56 89 – 98.Google Scholar
Muffler, L. J. P. and White, D. E., 1969 Active metamorphism of upper Cenozoic sediments in the Salton Sea geothermal fields and the Salton trough, southeastern California Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull 80 157 – 182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadeau, P. H., Tait, J. M., McHardy, W. J. and Wilson, M. J., 1984 Interstratified XRD characteristics of physical mixtures of elementary clay particles Clay Miner. 19 67 – 76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadeau, P. H., Wilson, M. J., McHardy, W. J. and Tait, J. M., 1984 Interparticle diffraction: A new concept for interstratified clays Clay Miner. 19 757 – 769.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadeau, P. H., Wilson, M. J., McHardy, W. J. and Tait, J. M., 1985 The conversion of smectite to illite during diagenesis: Evidence from some illitic clays from bentonites and sandstones Mineral. Mag. 49 393 – 400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollastro, R. M., 1985 Mineralogical and morphological evidence for the formation of illite at the expense of illite/smectite Clays & Clay Minerals 33 265 – 274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, R. C. and Hower, J., 1970 The nature of interlayering in mixed-layer illite-montmoriUonites Clays & Clay Minerals 18 25 – 36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Srodon, J., 1980 Precise identification of illite/smectite interstratifications by X-ray powder diffraction Clays & Clay Minerals 28 401 – 411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Srodon, J. and Eberl, D. D., 1984 Illite Micas, Reviews in Mineralogy 13 495 – 544.Google Scholar
Srodon, J., Morgan, D. J., Eslinger, E. V., Eberl, D. D. and Karlinger, M. R., 1986 Chemistry of illite/smectite and end-member illite Clays & Clay Minerals 34 368 – 378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steiner, A., 1968 Clay minerals in hydrothermally altered rocks at Wairakei, New Zealand Clays & Clay Minerals 16 193 – 213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watanabe, T., 1981 Identification of illite/montmorillonite interstratifications by X-ray powder diffraction J. Miner. Soc. Japan, Spec. Issue 15 32 – 41 (in Japanese).Google Scholar
Weaver, C. E. and Beck, K. C., 1971 Clay water diagenesis during burial: How mud becomes gneiss Geol. Soc. Amer. Spec. Paper 134 1 – 78.Google Scholar
Wilson, M. J., Nadeau, P. H. and Drever, J. I., 1985 Interstratified clay minerals and weathering process The Chemistry of Weathering Dordrecht NATO ASI series C149, Reidel 97 – 118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar